Degrees

B.M., Eastman School of MusicM.A., D.M.A., University of California San Diego

Bio

Scott Worthington is a double bassist and composer based in Los Angeles. As a performer, he plays in chamber ensembles, orchestras, recording studios, and as a soloist. His music has been commissioned by the Library Foundation of Los Angeles, Loadbang, the Ekmeles Vocal Ensemble, and numerous soloists. In 2017, Worthington became the principal bass of the Redlands Symphony and the Artist Teacher of Bass at the University of Redlands.

As a performer-composer Worthington has released two albums to critical acclaim on Populist Records. The most recent, Prism, features his own music for solo bass with electronics and bass ensemble and was named one of The New Yorker’s top ten classical albums of 2015 by Alex Ross. He frequently commissions new music for solo bass and has recently premiered pieces by Michael Pisaro, Clarence Barlow, and Randy Gibson. As a chamber musician, Worthington is a regular performer in LA’s new music community and is a member of Bass2Bass, an electric bass duo with performer-composer Michelle Lou. Along with violinist Andrew McIntosh, he was part of the second duo to give performances of Wolfgang von Schweinitz’s Plainsound Glissando Modulation, a concert-length work in extended just intonation.

His other engagements span a variety of areas in contemporary music. Worthington is active as a concert organizer and in 2013 he co-founded wasteLAnd, a concert series in Los Angeles that focuses on rarely-heard music of the last few decades. He has worked as a sound engineer for performances of electro-acoustic works by Boulez, Lucier, Meadowcroft, Nono, Reynolds, Sciarrino, and Stockhausen and as a recording engineer for albums released on Populist Records, Orenda Records, and on individual projects.

Worthington has performed around the world at the Carlsbad Music Festival, the Chihuahua International Festival, June in Buffalo, the Lucerne Festival, Monday Evening Concerts, MicroFest, and the WithOutWalls Festival. His music has been performed around the world by ensembles and soloists in art galleries, concert halls, and venues such as the Carlsbad Music Festival, the Center for New Music, the DiMenna Center, Mengi, The Stone, and Roulette. He and his music can be heard on Albany Records, Bridge Records, Hat Hut, Naxos, New Focus Recordings, Populist Records, and Tzadik.

Worthington studied at the Eastman School of Music with James VanDemark and the University of California San Diego with Mark Dresser. While in San Diego, he also studied the Alexander Technique with Eileen Trobermann. He performs on a copy of a Lorenzo Carcassi bass built for him by Barrie Kolstein.